Revision is Key

How the lessons you learned in English class apply to marketing

The Skinny

The writing process from English class just may be the key to your business performance. If you have ever had to write an academic paper, you know that the process includes an outline, a rough draft, a first draft, and then a final version that the teacher grades. Marketing is similar; however, you may never see a final version. Ongoing revision is key to producing quality work, and the key to building a business. Whether it’s getting a second pair of eyes on a blog post, or revising your production process, continual edits are essential to the business process and should be treated as such.

The Fat

We bring you the topic of revision in the wake of our recent experiences with the importance of a good reworking process in our business. We recently failed to revise copy that we sent as an example to a customer. That means our first impression to this client was on par with hand-written work from an 8th grader, complete with cross outs and scribbles. Almost as if we were barbers who didn’t blend the sides of a haircut or chefs who brought out all the raw ingredients to a meal without cooking them first. Though blunders like this happen, if you integrate a rock solid revision process into the production of your good or service you stand a much higher chance of not repeating these mistakes.

The Process

What is the revision process? The English classes we dreaded in high school taught us to outline then revise. Then we craft a rough draft then revise again. Next, we create another draft then revise, and lastly, a final draft is shown to the teacher (in this case, your audience) who then critiques your work.

Application

We can apply this process to a typical marketing situation, like advertisements, as well. First, outline your goals including who the ad is to reach and how much money you have to spend. Then, you create multiple drafts of your advertisements varying different elements, like visual and text content. You now have rough drafts. By using your resources, both online and with your team, you can then revise into a first draft. Following this step, you will have settled on the advertisement to run. Pass it by another set of eyes to get a final revision to the draft, then launch that bad boy!

Of course, your work isn’t done here. The teachers (your audience) gets to decide how effective it is. The final step is where your user testing takes place. Don’t be afraid to keep revising and optimizing to make sure your audience finds your work of quality. The only way to create better products, services, marketing materials, or other pieces of work is through this continually improving process.

Our Example

A case of this process of continual improvements is our team’s proactive approach to our website. When Mountain Valley Marketing first launched, it didn’t instill any viewers confidence in our design acumen at all. It was a rough template with some text and stock photos. So, we revised! The next website was much better, with a reworked template and some uniquely designed features. It still featured some stock photos, but it was a step in the right direction. We recognized the need to improve the website continually, and have been working on a brand new site. Based on a great process, and a commitment to keep growing, the third edition of the Mountain Valley website will be our best yet!

The Takeaway

We hope you take this revisionist approach to all of your work. If you are a photographer, don’t send unedited photos. If you are a farmer, don’t send a basket of leaves and sticks to market. And if you are a professional, don’t let your best work look like a first draft.

(Photo credit and further reading about successful writing: LifeHack)